Lost Spartan
by Daniel Hayne
Summary: Over a decade after The Flood fell, the UNSC has rebuilt as much as it could whilst under constant pressure from the Remnant, but The Flood wasn't the only species the Forerunners encountered - any reviews would be appreciated! -Soon returning-
1. Prologue & Chapter 1: Awakening

_Welcome to Lost Spartan, a halo fan fiction that I've been writing, editing, and re-writing for about.... 4 years now, hope you enjoy the latest edition!_

_For those that aren't has Halo crazy as myself, I decided to point out that I use the actual names for the member races of the Covenant. These are listed below for those that are not familiar with them:_

_Sangheili - Elites_

_JiralHanae - Brutes_

_Unggoy - Grunts_

_San 'Shyuum - Prophets_

_Kig 'Yar – Jackals_

_Mgalekgolo – Hunters_

_Yanme'e - Drones_

_Huragok – Engineers_

_And so, without further ado, I shall now get on with telling the tale!_

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**Prologue: The Last 10 Years**

The Flood has fallen and the Covenant fractured. The war against extinction, the Great War, ended with the final hammer blow against the parasite, and the last remaining figurehead of the Covenant, the Prophet of Truth. The Covenant, once united in faith, fractured into three factions. The first were the proud Sangheili; noble warriors and vicious fighters, who became aware of the Forerunner "Final Answer" to the Flood's threat during the Great War and chose to turn on their obstinate allies, fighting alongside the battered remains of the USNC. After the war, the avenged warriors secured a vast domain with diplomacy and if needed, blade. The Arbiter, stating that he would have to die fighting in order to take off the ancient armour, declined the calls for him to take office. So the Sangheili Fleet Commander Rtas "Half-Jaw" 'Vadumee took office as Supreme Chancellor of the Sangheilit Senate. The second race, the JiralHanae, smashed out a crude, small, but immensely powerful interstellar empire, taking several covenant forge worlds and station worlds, similar to the annihilated High Charity. The third race to forge themselves out of the wreckage, astounding all the others, were the Unggoy. The ones that served both the San 'Shyuum and the JiralHanae, acquired enough courage to stage a coup d'état on Balaho, ousting their former dictators and wresting control of a few of the Covenant's forge worlds for themselves. Whilst the Covenant Remnant spiralled into chaos, the Humans began rebuilding, first and foremost at Earth; scanning the charred melted remains of East Africa for any trace of the Flood remaining from its briefly lived assault upon the ruins of Voi, Kenya. Then began the work of slowly rebuilding the crushed planet and decimated Home Fleet. With access to technologies given to them by the Sangheili, alongside the intelligence and information garnered from the twenty five years of fighting, Human warship designs advanced rapidly, allowing each new ship greater mobility and firepower. A vow was sworn; never again would the USNC allow Earth to be threatened - no matter the cost. Ten years have been spent, with each year a bitter struggle to reclaim abandoned systems, salvage whatever possible from ruined planets and protect the few remaining inner colonies from the violent species still in the galaxy.

**Chapter One: Awakening**

_0727 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
USNC SUPER CARRIER - SPEAR OF FIRE_

_SLIPSPACE TRANSIT, TARGET SYSTEM: CLASSIFIED_

The hum of the new slip space engine could be heard from the cryo-room. The silent, motionless space was just one of several, housing three hundred cryo-tubes, the ship's crew interred within, sleeping away any long jump, shortening the journey considerably. For three weeks the ship had been running on a skeleton crew, with minimal, rotating shifts, allowing each member a week of cryo time. The only mind aboard the colossal vessel that never slept, was the ship board AI, or rather the only minds, as there were two shipboard AI that currently resided in the data banks. Hammer: a seemingly simple construct that existed solely to operate the ship systems, control the auto guns and watch over the crew as they slept, was busy calculating the slip-space trajectories for an exit vector. The second AI: Bentus, was watching his counterpart with some amusement. Bentus is what is classified as a Smart AI, whilst Hammer is known as a Dumb AI. The main difference between them being that Bentus could go beyond his initial programming, pick up hobbies and interests - anything from poetry to pranks on lesser AI or humans; Hammer could operate a ship, maintaining the systems, and pilot it effectively when needed, but she could not breach the boundaries placed upon her by the programmers. After Hammer had finished the calculations, Bentus ran over them himself, solely for the pleasure of watching her core temperature rise in indignation. He then received a not-so-friendly message requesting that he take his overrated processing power and put it to a necessary use. He replied, What to do, what to do, what to do. You pretty much have the ship systems covered and since you're the pilot at the moment, there isn't much for me to do. Her reply was brief, Wake the admiral. Smirking, Bentus flicked his full attention to the cryo-bay, the holo-panel in the centre of the room hummed and lines of code began to spiral out. The figure of a man formed from them, short cropped hair and thin glasses, sporting a pair of heavy set boots, dark jeans and a navy t-shirt. With the automated systems that operated the cryo bay, all Bentus needed to do was throw an invisible switch and watch as the bay heated itself, ready to bring the crew out of their slumber. The admiral, as commanding officer, as was first to be awoken for this "trip", as a crew member had called it. The wake cycle took 10 minutes, the individual slowly roused from the ice cold sleep. The problem with that being, as the mind was waking up from stasis, the individual began to dream. And dreams were often the place of nightmares for veterans of the Great War. Folding his translucent arms, Bentus stared, his clear eyes evaluating the Rear Admiral as she began to stir.

****

_1247 HOURS, JANUARY 6TH, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDER)\_

_USNC FRIGATE - ADRIATIC_

_EARTH, ATMOSPHERIC FLIGHT – EAST AFRICA, KENYA_

"All ships fire at will!"

The announcement from Lord Hood blared over the com, followed immediately by Commander Richmond ordering, "Target Truth's dreadnought and fire, everything we've got!" From her station, Lieutenant Commander Samantha Heart counted off the MAC charges, and positive locks from the archer missile pods. "Full lock, all Archers away, MAC on firing charge cycle, one round away every three seconds." replied the fire control Ensign, Digby "Digs" Kenta. Heart read off the missile trajectories, "All ordinance on target, but no point defence from the enemy sir" she paused; the Covenant could pick off Archer missiles as easily as swatting a fly. "Almost as if they know we can't hurt it..." Richmond looked over to her, "That or they are blinded by the majesty of the damn thing," he countered. She considered this, turning back to her console. The Adriatic, a USNC frigate, was part of the three ship formation that was leading the assault on the Forerunner Dreadnought Truth had arrived in. _Forward Unto Dawn_, the lead vessel and flagship of Hood's now tattered fleet, was first in, followed by both the Adriatic and the Aegis Fate. The three frigates, preceded by scores of Long Sword space fighters, were in a delta formation; the arrow head manoeuvre giving all three ships the best line of sight. Reading her console, she calculated the time until the weapon fire stuck. "Impact in 5 seconds" she read out loud. Everyone turned to look out of the front viewport, watching in morbid fascination as the human weapons struck home on the tripod shape flagship of the Covenant Loyalists. Crimson and amber flares blossomed off the hull as the first wave of Long Sword fighters pounded it from up close with 110mm chain guns. Deep red and orange ripples flared outwards, as the missiles struck their mark, denting the hundred-thousand-year-old hull of the Forerunner starship. Moments later, the bombardment of MAC shells battered the hull, filling the air with fire, with a tolling gong noise echoing for miles around, but nothing broke through, simply stopping dead against the ancient vessel.. "Commander, the atmospheric disturbances above the artefact are getting worse, I'm having trouble holding course" advised the pilot, "Wind speed is up to two hundred kph" The ship shook as the wind shear began to push it off its course, and the pilot tried to force her back on track. Heart saw the dreadnought begin to move, releasing a gasp of surprise at it began to slide downwards, the blossoms of fire dying out as more and more shots missed their mark, exploding into the cliff walls around the artefact. Down the ship went, sinking lower and lower until only the spire was visible. As it went, fourteen monoliths began to rise out of the artefact, rising higher into the sky like arms reaching to the heavens. The dreadnought began to shimmer, a coalescing white light rotating around the spire as it sank. The light span faster the higher the monoliths rose, until the dreadnought was completely bathed in the light, shimmering with energy, rippling with untold power. The monoliths fell heavily into place with a clunk that echoed around the landscape, as they did so releasing strands of blue matter, string like in appearance, which gathered around the tip of the dreadnought's spire, condensing into a sphere. Without warning the light around the dreadnought peaked, streaking upwards, impacting the condensed blue sphere. The sphere exploded outwards, the monoliths spreading their fibres outwards, helping it expand to colossal size. "Shockwave!" was the last thing Heart heard before the displaced air around the artefact struck the three frigate formation. The Forward Unto Dawn was forced overhead, The aft section of the ship whipping past the Adriatic's main view port, while the Aegis Fate swooped round underneath. With power levels redlining and the engines whining as they were forced beyond their limits, the ship span away from the epicentre. In an attempt to avoid any collisions, the ship's dumb AI plotted an immediate emergency landing on the nearby cliffside. As they swooped low over the ground, the engines finally died, causing the ship to drop the last hundred meters straight down onto the savannah plains surrounding the artefact. All personnel on board were thrown to the ground, those at their posts were sent sprawling. On the bridge, Digby was sent flying as his console shorted out and exploded, filling the air with debris. Heart was flipped head over heels, landing in a crumpled heap, the darkness washing over her, and even the pain faded out as the blackness settled.

****

Bentus couldn't help but wonder what was happening beneath Heart's closed eyes. The Rear Admiral had been in and out of cryo-sleep like clockwork over the last few months, each dream she had upon awakening seemed progressively worse, but this one didn't seem so bad. Unlike the last time he watched her wake, when she had thrashed around so violently that the cryo-system had forgone the slow wake, and immediately disgorged her onto the deck. The medics were automatically called but she ordered them away when they arrived. Thankfully, thought Bentus, there hasn't been a repeat incident. He waited until he heard the near silent gasp (whisper) of air as the tube unsealed, and the door slowly began to open. Mist rolled out of the tube and gathered along the floor, surrounding the AI's pedestal. With a disdainful look, he clicked his holographic fingers, and the ventilation system kicked in, drawing the mist away. With a sound like wet skin being drawn off leather, Heart peeled herself off from the inner lining of the tube. Holding onto the side she pulled herself out, onto the deck, where she proceeded to cough and retch, forcing the bronchial surfactant that gathered around a person's throat, designed to be swallowed, to help replace lost nutrients and other essential items the body loses every time it enters cryo-sleep. One of the most exalted captains of the Great War once said, "That no matter how many times they changed the formula, it always tasted like Lime flavoured mucus." Heart entirely agreed, forcing the gunk from her mouth, and spitting it to the drainage ditch that ran in front of each tube. "God, I hate that stuff" she croaked, lifting herself into a kneeling position. "After twenty years of service, you think you would get used to it, huh?" Bentus piped in. He absent-mindedly turned the heating up to full, well aware at the size of the room, and Heart's very noticeable lack of clothing. Heart, upon hearing the heating system kick into overdrive, gave the AI an incredulous look, picked herself up and walked into the nearby changing room.


	2. Chapter 2: Young Spartans

**I go into some background detail in this chapter, thanks to the writers of the Halo books and of course, Halopedia for additional info. After all, if you're going to write something as close to canon as you can, you need canon sources! Any R&R's would be great! Cheers!**

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**Chapter Two: Young Spartans**

The Spear of Fire was the final super-carrier class vessels to be launched from the Martian shipyards, the drive to rebuild the decimated home fleet drawing in millions of workers from both Earth and the remaining Inner Colonies. Standing at nearly three thousand meters long, six hundred meters tall and one thousand meters wide, the colossus is one of the largest ships in UNSC history. It is powered by twin nuclear fusion generators, connected to six large and ten small exhaust ports at the rear of the ship. Based on experiments by the Cortana AI, the standard magnetic accelerator cannon, which fired depleted uranium and tungsten shells with a porous core, had been replaced by a series of plasma based shells. The shells consist of a micro-fusion core, which as it passes the magnetic strips within the firing chamber, picks up the initial charge, and on the last strip at the barrel of the weapon, the fusion sparks, creating a swirling plasma ball around the shell. Archer pods, clustered around the hull provided even more firepower, as well as Shiva nuclear missiles and swarms of Long Sword interceptors and Short Sword bombers. Four years had been spent building her, scores of frigates, numerous Marathon cruisers and a small number of carriers being churned out alongside her. Her first action was seen at the first battle of Mars, on the day of her launching ceremony. The JiralHanae, their spies telling them of the impending super ship, had launched a desperate attack, trying to deny the humans such a powerful symbol. Mistaking just how far humans had advanced in recent years, the JiralHanae fleet chieftain was horrified to see that the ship had survived unscathed after the first volley, reverse engineered human shielding giving a higher yield of protection then the Covenant's imitated designs. The JiralHanae fleet, consisting of two carriers and several cruisers, attempted to flee, but was caught in the cross fire when the Spear of Fire opened up, as did the closing Home Fleet, smashing the Covenant ships from front and behind. After the battle was over, the humans of Sol cheered, no longer could the Remnant just saunter into the home system, no longer could they pose a significant threat. The people of the inner colonies, upon hearing the news, rejoiced that now the fight could be taken back to the enemy, after over twenty five years of running, and eight years of desperate defence. Now two years into her service, the Spear of Fire is one of three super carriers currently operating under the flag of the UNSC, the Spear of Light and Spear of Shadow, but neither of them as advanced as their youngest sister.

_0916 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
USNC SUPER CARRIER - SPEAR OF FIRE – DECK LIFT on route to PORT CARGO BAY  
SLIPSPACE TRANSIT, TARGET SYSTEM: CLASSIFIED_

Heart leaned against the inner railing as the lift began to slow its decent. Showered and dressed, she felt rested, which was mainly why she went into cryo sleep so much; she could rest easy, and avoid the dreams until she was woken up. Staring into the middle distance, she didn't notice that lift's small holo projector had flickered into life, swirling red lines of code animating a long, silky smooth dress, dark shoulder length strands of curly hair, and confident stance. "Morning Hammer" she said, finally realising that she was being watched. "Good morning admiral," came the flat tone reply, "We are approaching the target system, and we will be exiting slip space within the next twenty minutes." Heart nodded in acknowledgement, she should keep this visit short and sweet then. The ship was hers to command, she could go wherever she pleased, but she couldn't help but feel apprehensive about entering the port cargo bay. It was her ship, but the cargo bay was their space. The lift clicked loudly into place, the doors sliding open instantly. The air changed with the smell of blood and sweat wafting in towards her. The multi-tiered cargo bay had been converted into a training camp. On the base of the deck, stood a gymnasium with barbells and benches dotted around mats and weight stands, next to the gym, stood a series of boxing rings and sparring arenas. The middle deck was now sleeping quarters, a canteen and a class room. The highest deck was a running track and obstacle course. Heart watched a few of the people in the room swinging along the ropes and climbing walls from where she stood, before looking down at the gym, as people lifted weights and sparred in the arenas. She couldn't quite get used to the fact, that despite the military discipline they showed to the chain of command, that all the people in this room were still teenagers.

Michael lay on his bunk, tired and sore from the stint on the obstacle course; his arms ached from exertion, as the course was one of the hardest he and the others had been put on. He turned to look at those around him; Sarah was doing push ups on the floor next to her bunk, Louise was reading a book taken from the class room. Ricky was sleeping off his exhaustion and Carter was playing a game of chess with Cassidy. These six represented the command group - each person here had command of a team of fifteen others. Blue, red, green, yellow, purple and white, were the teams that the 96 young teenagers were divided up into. Blue was the main force, put into hot zones with dangerous objectives. Red often worked closely with Blue, using the blue assault as a smoke screen to complete their more subversive objectives. Greens were the reinforcements, if any team got in too deep; green went in and pulled them out. Yellow consisted of the specialists, demolitions, piloting, hand-to-hand and other military practises. Purple were the most elusive group, being able to go undetected as spies and recon patrols. White contained the medics, whilst the entire group knew basic first aid; the members of white team had extensive medical knowledge, able to perform surgery on the battlefield if necessary. Michael felt pride that he was a part of blue team; he was a part of the first in, last out party. Ricky was a red; he led his team quietly whilst the blues made all the noise, distracting the enemy. Louise was a green; always breaking up fights, or helping out when fights broke out. Sarah was a purple; one of the best. She could vanish in an instant and not be seen for days, only to reappear on her bunk when everyone wasn't looking. Carter was a yellow; his speciality was tactics, able to plan an attack, and alter that plan on the fly. Cassidy was a white; able to heal all, and use her knowledge to drop an opponent with little effort, Michael had lost count of the nerve clusters she had tweaked, and simply pushed him over during a fight. Rickey stirred from his slumber and looking up, said, "Thought I heard the lift arrive." At this, everyone else around him looked up as well. At the sight of the Admiral, watching the training taking place above and below them, the six jumped off their bunks, standing at full attention beside them. Their movements caught Heart's eye and she began to walk over to them.

"As you were" was the first thing she said, looking each of the teenagers in turn, the oldest has to be fifteen at the most, she thought, staring at Michael as she did so. He took this as a prompt, and began to talk "Admiral ma'am, how can we be –" she rose a hand to silence him, "We are nearly at our target," she stated, "I would like to see you and the other team leaders on the bridge in ten minutes." Michael snapped a clean salute, mildly shocked to see the faint trace of a grimace appear on her face until she suppressed it. "Yes ma'am," he replied, "If I may be candid ma'am, why didn't you just radio down?" Sarah threw him a near invisible look of disdain before returning to her stoic self. Heart smirked, turned and began to walk back to the lift. "I needed to stretch my legs; Cryo-sleep always gives me a slight cramp." As the lift door closed, Heart lent against the railing once more. _Kids shouldn't have to salute_, she thought, _my vessel has been turned into "interstellar nursery"._ Since a second military command world had yet to be founded, the Spear of Fire was the best place to train them, ferrying them from colony to colony, each with different climates and different objectives. She keyed the bridge deck into the lift, and it began to rise.

As the hum of the lift's motor slowly faded Michael walked over to the intercom. Keying the cargo bay's PA, he spoke "All Spartans, gear up, show time!" Instantly, the Spartans around the equipment, on the obstacle course, in the class room and on their bunks, stopped what they were doing and made bee lines for their lockers. As the command group walked over to the locker bay, Sarah was quickly at his side, "The admiral flinches every time we salute her" Michael kept on walking, as Ricky replied for him "I don't think the admiral likes being saluted by kids" Sarah scoffed, "We're not kids anymore, We're Spartans!" Louise turned her head as she walked, "Spartans in training Sarah remember that, we haven't earned MJOLNIR yet." Michael left them to it, as Sarah and Louise started to bicker, getting their armour out, stripping off their fatigues and checking each piece over as they put it on.

As Heart arrived on the bridge, she stared out of the front view screen. The purple-pink dance of vibrant swirls, spirals and ripples of slip space washed over her vision, and she blinked away from it. The two holo-tanks, in either arm of her command chair, flickered into life, Bentus' avatar rising fully from the projector. Hammer however, didn't materialise fully into the projection, a single line of red code extended from her tank, ever changing numbers flashing continuously up and down. Looking across at his associate, "you know, I don't think I've ever seen her with any other avatar...." he remarked. Heart replied, as she sat in her chair, "Maybe there are some things you just aren't meant to know Bentus." The AI shrugged, turning to look at the sensor screen on the left wall. "We will exit slip space in ten seconds." the monotone voice of Hammer related. Bentus did a mock start, pretending to clutch his heart in shock, "She talks out loud! I was begin –" he silenced himself when Heart waved her hand through his projection. Heart looked out of the front view screen again, as it turned to a blue hue, the swirls and spirals vanishing, but the ripples getting stronger. Hammer was counting down, "Three...two....one...." the ripples ceased, and as the last one echoed outwards, it drew the blue hue with it, leaving a black hole, expanding outwards, specks of white flared along the black, and it was large enough for the ship to pass through. As it did so, it brought waves of purple fire with it, dragging it out into real space, where it bloomed around the ship, then slowly faded as the rupture closed behind the vessel. Folding his arms, looking out of the view port, Bentus said "Ladies and Gentlemen... Welcome to the world, formerly known, as Reach."


	3. Chapter 3: Ghosts Of Reach

_Rating has changed from __**M**__ to __**T**__, if needs be I will change it back. This story is actually a rewrite of an older version of something I wrote a few years back, but with the release of the books _**Ghosts of Onyx**_ and _**Contact: Harvest**_ as well as _**Halo 3**_, particularly the way that story arch ended, meant that the original had inconsistencies and outright mistakes_

_Chapter 3 is here!_

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_0948 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
USNC SUPER CARRIER - SPEAR OF FIRE – BRIDGE  
TARGET SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

Reach was once the proudest of Earth's colonies, the UNSC had a mighty presence here. The only position more heavily defended then Reach was Earth herself; that had changed eleven years ago. Three hundred and sixteen ships of the Covenant came, and one of the most titanic battles of the Great War was fought. UNSC engaged the Covenant ships with one hundred and fifty-two ships, and an additional twenty heavy MAC cannon armed Orbital Defence Platforms, able to kill a Covenant ship with a single shot. The battle was strung out for hours, from extreme range until at close range the fifty remaining UNSC desperately tried to defend the surviving Orbital Defence Platforms, but ultimately this was futile. Although the Covenant had lost two thirds of their fleet, the UNSC was down to their last vessel, the Pillar of Autumn. The single ship fled, with half of the Covenant fleet following close behind, whilst the rest began to orbit Reach, burning all human existence off the planet with plasma fire, melting the land and boiling the seas. The Battle of Reach had signalled the last of the titanic battles of the Great War, as during the course of her escape, the Pillar of Autumn discovered the first Halo Array. Events set into action there, brought about the fracturing of the Covenant and the end of the war. Reach was now just a cold, lifeless glass orb hanging in space. The debris from that last battle, had been towed away into a high orbit by the Covenant, as they frantically attempted to find their "Holy" Forerunner relic. Since then, the debris had slowly drifted apart, dragging cold, broken war ships around the orbital lanes. Now a dust cloud had settled around the planet, an inconsistent spattering of dead hulks, twisted metal and the unrecovered bodies of countless crew members.

The bridge doors slid open, and the six Spartans walked into the room. Helmets on, the teenagers looked like any standard marine, except the armour they were wearing was far more advanced. The Hollow mark IV training armour was designed to be worn at all times. The unique design of it, allows it to be worn even as the wearer grew, stretching itself around the body. It is called Hollow because the suit has no built in components, aside standard fittings. It still increases the speed and strength of the user, and can be given extra equipment; attachable shield generators, stealth generators, field surgery kits, tactical map projectors. The helmets were originally taken from Orbital Drop Shock Trooper armour, standard gear for the hell-jumpers, an elite branch of the UNSC Marine Corps, which uses drop-pods fired from orbit, to land either behind or on top of enemy lines. Standing in a line, the Spartans looked imposing and some of the bridge crew shifted uncomfortably in their seats. All of them were wearing their helmets, only Michael spoke, "Reporting as ordered ma'am." Heart looked away from the view screen, watching as Michael removed his helmet. "We have reached our target and now I'm going to inform you of your objective." she said, walking over to the sensor wall, the Spartans following. Scan information flashed along the screen, Heart selected the planet and the image zoomed in. "Hammer, take us into an orbit, as close as you can. Bentus, found the target site yet?" she said without turning round. The ship began to move forward, turning towards the ruined planet. "It would be easier to scan the planet without all that debris floating pell mell." With white lines of code running frantically up and down his body, Bentus had his eyes closed in concentration. Suddenly they snapped open, eyes darting to the sensor screen, "Got it, behind the wreck of the Trafalgar. It's on the surface of the planet, putting it up for you now." As he uttered the words, a portion of the sensor image zoomed in, showing a large bunker embedded within the melted ground. "It looks like a standard research lab, half buried in the glass." he added. Heart contemplated the image for a moment. "Okay, Spartans. This is your objective. You are to infiltrate this facility, remaining undetected. Gather any intel you can, and withdraw." She turned to face the six, adding "It does sound like a job for Purple team, but I need Blue and Red on this one as well, just in case." Just in case, Michael thought, meaning that you might know what is in there, but either can't or won't tell us. "Understood ma'am," he said out loud, "Sarah go choose one of your team, you know them the best, meet Ricky and myself in the starboard hanger in twenty minutes." She nodded quickly leaving the bridge, as the bridge doors sealed shut behind her Michael continued, "Louise, I want you and four of your team there as well, prepping a second drop ship, if things go bad, I want you to assist." Louise stepped briskly until she left the bridge, then running to catch up to Sarah. "Carter, I want you planning the insertion, work with the ship's AI to get the most from the sensors." Carter acknowledging, strode over to the tactical station. "Cassidy, you're on standby for this one, but be ready for any possible casualties when we get back." She responded with a thumb up, clicking on her suit radio to inform her team. "Ricky, you and I will head straight to the hanger via the armoury, it is only three decks down" Michael said, snapping off a salute to Heart, turned to leave, Ricky falling in step behind him. Heart was always amazed to see Michael on duty. Whenever he wasn't in command, he seemed like a normal fifteen year old. It was hard for her to believe that he had killed numerous humans and hundreds of Remnant soldiers by the time he was nine. Heart watched them leave then returned to her seat.

Five minutes after they had left the bridge, Sarah and Louise arrived in the cargo bay, ninety Spartans stood before them, snapping to attention as they entered. Louise made a bee-line for her team, all fully armoured and armed. "Bentus, can you send me the schematics for the installation?" she requested of the ship's AI, clicking on her radio. Within seconds the scan data was flashing along her retina. Flicking through the information, she made her choices, "Jessica, Marcus, Darren and Laura; breaching load out, my location, five minutes." At her words, five of the assembled troops broke formation to gather their weapons. Sarah simply looked over her team, muttering until she chose one. "Payne, you're with me on this one, you got five minutes to gear up." Payne stepped forward from the group, his blue eyes fixed on hers as he replied "Yes ma'am." Turning on the spot, he set off to collect his equipment.

A further five minutes passed, Ricky and Michael arrived at one of the ships many standard armouries. "What do you think?" Ricky asked, as he hefted a 50. calibre machine gun, pretending to sweep along a line of targets. "Overcompensating," Michael replied tartly, "This is a recon; we need to be silent, with the option to be noisy. "So basically, we need to be quick, in and out?" smirked Ricky. Michael picked up two sub-machine guns, grabbing suppression nozzles for them both. He turned, placing the small weapons into thigh holsters, and began to watch Ricky viewing the rifles with awe, the aged design of the assault rifle used through most of the Great War, the MA5B, long since replaced with a more compact version, the MA5C. Grabbing the rifle, Ricky attached a silencer, and placed extra clips along his belt. Ricky turned to him, a puzzled look upon his face, "Grenades?" he ventured, Michael raised an eyebrow, and returned with "Stun only", before walking out of the armoury, with Ricky stuffing his pockets behind him.

Ten minutes later, ten Spartans stood next to two Pelican type VI drop-ships. Designed for stealth insertions, the drop-ships were flatter and sleeker then their normal cousins. Their muffled engine ports focus the thrust, increasing speed and trapping heat, storing it within the ship's black hull. While only a temporary ability, it gave the drop ship enough time to fly through a sensor net, and enter a planet's atmosphere. Equipped with components engineered straight from Covenant Phantom transports, the ships can cloak, reflecting all light around it, rendering it nearly invisible for a short period. "Okay, we load up" ordered Michael, as he climbed into the rear hatch of the first drop ship. Sarah, Payne and Ricky followed him in. Louise and her team followed suit into the second of the ships. Sitting behind the controls, Sarah patched into the ships comm. system, watching through the front viewscreen as Jessica took the controls on the other ship, she clicked on her radio, "Spear command, spear command, this is gamma-24, requesting permission to leave the hanger, over." As she waited for a reply, Sarah fired up the engines, the ship hovering in midair above the deck. Heart replied personally, "Gamma-24, this is spear command, Spear-1 speaking. You have a go, repeat, you have a go." Gunning the engines forward, Sarah slid the ship towards the opening hanger doors. "Copy that spear command, gamma-24 out." The doors slid open, coming to an abrupt halt, and the two drop ships slid out, thrusting towards the waiting debris cloud. "Sarah, activate the camouflage. If someone IS down there we don't want to be seen until we can get close enough to do something about it." Pressing a button on the control board, the camouflage generator whined as it was fed power. Slipping past, Jessica signalled to confirm all was operational, before activating her own cloak. Sarah watched as the ship began to shimmer, slipping and sliding out of focus as if underwater. The distorted sight slowly turned transparent and eventually vanished completely, Sarah, clicking her microphone, returned the favour to Jessica. Both ships then slid silently through the empty vacuum of space, dashing ever closer to the dead world.

_1006 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
INCUBUS RESEARCH LAB  
SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

The room was dark, just the way he preferred. He disliked staring at the world outside his office window. Or rather, what was left of a world. The only piece of land that wasn't glass or ash was what remained of Manachite Mountain. The Covenant seemed more than willing to remove the mountain from their sights, but didn't glass what remained. What was there now was an ancient Forerunner complex, found thirty years ago by human miners, working to excavate the abundance of titanium that Reach was originally colonised for. The Office of Naval Intelligence had shut down the site, and set up a base of operations, using the mountain itself as the first line of protection. Not that the other measures had helped when the Covenant inevitably came knocking. They removed the mountain and sent troops through the network of tunnels that made up what was left of the ONI Section III CASTLE base. He had chosen to entrench his research on this world, for the debris cloud floating above obstructed the light from the distant star, Epsilon Eridani. A light began to flicker on his screen. He ignored it, but it failed to cease, so he forcibly pressed the button, a thin, tinny voice echoing through the room, "Forgive me Admiral, but I think you should know, the Spear of Fire has just arrived in high orbit..." the voice paused, waiting for a response. The man sat there for a moment, mulling carefully over his reply. "Any other activity?" he ventured. The voice instantly replied, "They opened their hanger doors, but we are not sure if any ships were launched," it told him, "two signatures were detected, but promptly vanished within seconds of each other." So, thought the man, she came alone, and brought the make-believe soldier brats with her... He waited a few more seconds, and then ordered, "Prepare for possible intruders, post guards at any and all entry points, E.V.A and otherwise." The tinny voice was about to respond, but was cut off as the man hit the button, irritated that what was about to happen, had to happen so soon. She had always been good at interrupting him, throughout their careers she had always managed to one-up him. Well not this time, now it was his turn to outshine her. "Golgotha," he said, and a holo-projector in the ceiling flickered into life, shining the figure of a robed creature, blood-red and eyes aflame with malice, "Wake them, and prepare them as a welcoming gift should our newly arrived...friends... manage to breach the compound, the fact of which I have no doubt." The burning eyes blinked, and a deep, rumbling voice hissed a reply, "It is done, they wake." Promptly, the projector died, and the visage vanished. Darkness returned to the room and, thankful for it, the man closed his eyes and continued to bask in it.


	4. Chapter 4: Descent To The Below

_Sorry for not updating recently, my Games Design work is beginning to pile up at University, got to get that finished before anything else. Oh well, whilst my machine busies itself, I'll write some more._

_This is where I started to really make things up, the original story didn't have a Spartan mission, but I wrote one in because it explains why the 96 of them are actually ON the ship in the first place..._

_Thanks for the two reviews received so far, I hope I can continue to please!_

_Chapter __**four**__ is here!_

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**Chapter Four: Descent To The Below**

_1038 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
PELICAN: TYPE IV, approaching REACH DEBRIS CLOUD  
SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

The drop ships comm. link opened with a click, and Louise's voice piped through the internal speaker system. "We're nearing the cloud; we'll take up position on the other side of the Trafalgar's hull and wait for you to signal us." As Jessica levelled the ship out, gliding slowly down towards the wrecked hull. With a faint, dull clunk the magnetic clamps descended down, locking the ship in place. The dust in front of the viewscreen parted, as the second drop-ship slid through, passing the dead ship, floating in orbit around a dead world. Jessica looked around her, the debris spreading about almost randomly. A covenant destroyer, killed by a heavy MAC round, fired from an orbital station during the battle, floated ominously nearby, slowly turning on its axel end over end. "This whole place is a graveyard. This doesn't feel right." She muttered under her breath. "Something always goes wrong at grave worlds." Louise had to agree, a few of the Spartan zero-G training missions had been to secure ships from debris fields, like the ones around Biko, an outer colony, one of the first to be glassed by the Covenant. Half of the teams had been sweeping the wrecked USNC ships, looking for supplies and munitions to be salvaged, whilst the rest were boarding what few downed Covenant vessels there were, looking to acquire engine schematics and other technological blueprints, after which they would destroy the ships to hide the scavenge. They hadn't counted on a nest of Yanme'e, the drones had swarmed out in overwhelming numbers. The Spartans held their ground however, bringing down the darting insects with short controlled bursts, picking them off one by one. There were injuries however, Peter, a member of Red team, was caught by a series of needle strikes, causing his left side to explode in a shower of purple light and crystal fragments. Thanks to the abilities of White team, he made it long enough to be taken to the medical deck on the Spear of Fire. Louise could still picture him, a look of surprise mingled with shock, as the needles struck him, then sheer terror as he realised what was about to happen. Shaking the image from her mind, she ordered her team to check their gear again.

Sarah slipped the drop ship gracefully through the dust cloud, sliding past a wrecked UNSC frigate and cruiser, followed by a pair of Covenant frigates. Whistling, in a slow expressive note, Ricky exclaimed "This must have been one hell of a fight, just look at how many hulks there are!" Michael joined him at the viewscreen, remembering what they had been taught in the class room. "There are nearly two hundred Covenant capitals, and a hundred and fifty two USNC ships here." he said, "Not to mention who knows how many Long Sword and Seraph fighters as well as the Reach orbital stations and all the pieces they broke up into." Sarah ignored the conversation going on over her head, and continued to guide the ship towards the planet. "We'll be down in about 10 minutes, running silent." Nodding, Michael stepped into the rear compartment, and checked his weapons, Ricky following suit. Ten minutes passed in silence, and stayed that way until they heard the landing gear lower, and touch down upon the glass-like surface. A few seconds later the engines died, and the cockpit hatch opened, Sarah walking through to the rear, grabbing her gear. Around the Spartans, the air began to thin as it was let out of the rear bay, and the rear hatch lowered, giving them their first close-up glance at the world they had landed on. To the west of them, miles high spires of rock, stabbing upwards into space, the inner core of the planet, having been breached by the Covenant assault, fired plumes of molten rock upwards at incredible velocities as the atmosphere was stripped away around it, exposing it to the freezing temperatures of space. Sarah had set them down upon a flat plain, the near smooth surface only disturbed by the last bubbles and bumps to form before the then liquid finally cooled, after being scolded by Covenant plasma. "The target facility is about four miles that way. I didn't want to risk them seeing the ship land" Sarah said as she stepped out of the drop ship. She jumped from the ramp, falling down onto the glass silently, "No atmosphere, but the world is still spinning, giving it gravity." She added, bemused. The rest of the infiltration team followed suit. "Which way is the facility?" Michael asked her, to which she responded by pointing towards the horizon, along the plain, "then we move, double time for the first two miles." No sooner had he uttered the words, and then the team set off across the ground across the glass like ghosts.

20 minutes later, they slowed to a walking pace, crouching down and hugging the now hilly landscape. They rose to the crest to get a look at the facility. The standard modular design of all UNSC bases was instantly recognisable. The main section of the complex was the most obvious, but with the binoculars built into their helmets they could pick out all the little details. At the back of the base, the Spartans could see the smoke stack of the power plant, the hydrogen powered construction pumping out energy for the rest of the facility, and to the east of that, stood the barracks, the barn like building housing any number of marines from 10 to 100. Michael took note that all of the buildings where connected via a series of air tight corridors, built in straight lines, from transparent glass, similar to that used in space station construction, giving view ports out onto the surrounding space. If my team got stuck in one of them, Michael noted, anyone looking out of a window could see us. He concentrated on the main complex itself, and noticed a number of guards pacing around the perimeter. They were wearing standard UNSC EVA gear, but their weapons were of the most interest, "Heavy concussion rifles?" Ricky said over the secure channel, raising his hand to add to his question, "They won't leave much of a mark on us." Sarah focused on the rifle herself, analysing it. "Actually," she informed him, "these have been modified, overcharged. They can only get three or four shots off with them, but the shots will hurt like being punched at four hundred feet per second." Payne wasn't looking at the rifles, or the facility, his eyes scanning the surroundings for a viable entry path. "The good news is," he said, "is that they won't be able to hear us coming whilst EVA. The bad news is that the glass valley makes for poor cover. And the only path in takes us right to those guards." Michael thought for a moment, than made up his mind, "Sarah, Payne. Use your camo to get as to those two as you can, take them out quickly and quietly. Make sure, that if they are broadcasting continuous reports, that you loop a sample to keep their perimeter secure." With that, the two members of purple team seemingly vanished into thin air, until they started moving. The twin, shimmering twinkles of movement, visible only to a Spartan, set out along the valley, keeping low on approach towards the oblivious guards. Within twenty feet of the guards, they paused, waiting as Sarah looped their reports. When she had finished they pounced, Payne shattered his targets radio, while tearing the breathing tank from the guards back. Sarah flattened her hand, smacking the base against the second guard's throat, crushing his wind pipe and breaking his neck, he fell to the ground instantly and Sarah leant over to access his radio. Uploading the interval repeating message, she signalled for the rest of the team. Within minutes, the squad had reunited at the maintenance airlock the guards had been protecting. Sarah was busy with her gauntlet AI, simply called Quis, who was a highly advanced infiltration operative, able to break any and all codes given to it. However, it was so specialised that it could not perform any other functions, like Bentus and Hammer. Together with Quis, there was nowhere that Sarah couldn't get into. Whilst the others stood guard over her, Sarah aided by Quis, cracked the security, blocking the opening sensor, and slid the door open long enough for the team to slip inside.

****

_1041 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
USNC SUPER CARRIER - SPEAR OF FIRE – BRIDGE  
TARGET SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

"Bentus, have you found it?" Heart asked the AI, rotating to face him "If we don't find it soon, there could be problems." The AI responded with a single raised eyebrow, followed by a sigh, "You forget Admiral, I know the specs of it, I know what it can do." He looked at the sensor screen, "It must be hiding in the debris, using the wrecks to hide itself." Heart ignored the disrespect of the AI's response, she knew him well enough to know that it was simply a sign of frustration; he liked knowing where everything was, and didn't like not being able to find something. She turned back to her console the small screen protruding from the right armrest. She scrolled down on the screen, showing crew lists and repair reports for another UNSC vessel, _The Bloodied Tomahawk_. The small vessel had gone missing 3 months ago, the last reports that the "damn ONI spooks" had given was that it had been in mid-report, having found another Forerunner Relic, but had been cut off mid-transmission. Reading through the ship specs, Heart was able to confirm that it was one of the newer ONI stealth cruisers. Capable of remaining hidden for days, the black ship was near perfect for spying on nearly anything, or rather, anyone. Trying to find something, that was designed to remain hidden from all but the most stringent scrutiny, was like trying to find one of the five hidden Halo arrays around the galaxy, by randomly pointing your ship's nose, and jumping somewhere in that general area, the admiral mused to herself. Bentus, his growing frustration showing as his code spiralled around him like a small tornado, furiously set scan after scan in motion, determined to find the Tomahawk. He was surprised when he received a message, _LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE BENTUS_. He froze, the message blindsided him, his scans dropping off in intensity. The message had been broadcast to the Spear, but he couldn't tell from where, it was as if the graveyard of ships around him were talking to him. He stopped trying to scan for power emitting generators; the debris was obviously helping mask the signature, so he tried something new. He calculated all of the angles of all the UNSC ships in the field, and began to trace a direct line back along the formation, bouncing off each ship's communication array. Most of the ships were too damaged, their arrays destroyed, but enough were left to form a network of beacons. Through a number of possible combinations, Bentus sent the same reply over and over again along each route, bouncing off arrays and comm. towers, each with different encryption trackers, designed to return to sender when the message was opened; _HUSHED CASKETS NEVER REMAIN SEALED_. Within seconds a return was made, the second message was received by an active array. He traced the route, exclaiming, "Ma'am, I've found it, situated point 1.5 degrees south of Reach's Equator, in what remains of the Margress seabed," The sensors went wild, as energy flares lit up the screens, "They know they've been rumbled, their getting ready to take off." Heart sat up in her chair, pressing an icon on her command console, "All hands, battle stations, fire teams on stand-by at all airlocks and boarding craft, all fighter pilots to your ships." The bridge dimmed blue, a passive light designed to focus the crew on their consoles, "All consoles sound off." One by one the bridge crew confirmed their readiness for whatever was coming. "Weapons systems, online, MAC and Archer missiles ready and awaiting your orders ma'am" Lieutenant Jennifer Rodez responded. "Flight and Navigation systems at peak operations admiral." informed Lieutenant Commander Jonathan West. "All hands report ready and standing-by admiral," Commander Jamie Tarrack replied. "The ship is combat ready Ma'am" came Hammers cold voice, "We will in range of a warning sho-." Bentus' raised voice cut her off, "Damn spooks make their ships fast, she's already left the planet surface," he raised his eyebrows, "and she isn't running. She's coming in, building up to attack speed." Heart watched as a seemingly empty vista of planet surface seemed to move and slide through space, but with what Bentus was saying, she knew that it was the Tomahawk, in full flight running with weapons hot. If that old git wants a fight, she thought, let's see how much damage his cruiser can take before it sheers in half. "Target the incoming ship, archers one through five," she paused as the command was entered into the system, "Fire!"


	5. Chapter 5: Borders Of Hell

_Sorry it has taken me so long to update people! The 12th of December was my __**21**__**st**__ birthday and my assignment hand in date, and then I spent a month at home, doing absolutely nothing. Now, I'm a month into my 2__nd__ semester at University, and I hope to write a lot of __**LS**__ and get it back on track!_

_Chapter 5 is now here!_

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**Chapter 5: Borders of Hell**

_1042 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
UNKNOWN RESEARCH BASE, PLANET SURFACE  
SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

The airlock lead into a straight narrow corridor, the Spartans stalking along it one by one, until all four of them had reached the entrance to the main corridor beyond. Sarah and Payne, activating their cloak generators, slid out into the mesh of walk ways, ladders and pipelines, with Michael and Ricky sliding into the thick shadows along the wall when she signalled the all clear. The two camouflaged Spartans edged silently along borders of the walkways, stepping over floor embedded lights, which would cause a shimmer in their cloak. Michael and Ricky had climbed on top of the pipe network strewn about above the walkway, and were crawling at the same pace as the two Spartans below them. Michael and Rickey stopped dead as a door opened in the distance, pressing themselves flat against the pipes they melded seamlessly into the shadows. Sarah and Payne reacted before Michael could tell where they were, Payne was latched onto the underside of the pipes, his legs and arms wrapped around them like ropes. He had locked his armour into place making sure he could not fall. Sarah had flipped over the one railing, sliding beneath the walkway, staring up as the oncomers slowly made their way towards them. As the footsteps, amplified by their enhanced hearing, drew nearer, they were nearly all surprised to see, not guards, but research staff. They walked softly, as if trying not to wake a sleeping child, progressing down the corridor at an agonisingly slow pace. Minutes passes as the two walk down the track, pausing at every entrance, as one of them walks into an adjacent room. Silently, the Spartans waited patiently, watching carefully as the two researchers progressed down the corridor. 20 minutes passed, and eventually they rounded a corner and vanished from sight. Instantly, the Spartans moved silently from their positions. Michael and Ricky stretched, their joints clicking after being stationary for so long. "Thought they would never leave," Michael muttered under his breath as he moved his joints. Payne, unlocking his armour, swung forwards and landed noiselessly on the walkway, "Easy for you, you just had to lie there," he said to no-one in particular. As Sarah climbed out from underneath, Michael could hear her joints click from beneath her armour. The two infiltration specialists began to stalk their way along the platform once more, with Ricky and Michael keeping pace on the pipes above. As they passed a thick metal blast door, Michael took in the construction; it was almost like the wall was build around the door itself, as if the door had been place down first, and the room beyond created to match. Taking a micro tag camera from his belt, he threw it into the wall, the clamps automatically biting into the titanium braced concrete. A screen appeared on his helmet, a wall eye view, staring back at him. He adjusted the pitch and yaw, angling the camera to watch the entrance way opposite, "Something of interest?" Sarah asked; as the feed looped round to the other 3. "I don't know, but there is ....I don't like that door, I just think the door is too thick to simply be a blast shield, it is keeping something in." He replied, slowly moving off down the corridor, Ricky following close behind. Payne reached the end of the corridor first, pausing to give flickering glances down the junctions, "all clear for now, but I have nothing on my tracker." He paused, concentrating on it for the first time, "and I mean nothing, I think it is being jammed." Michael cursed under his breath, a jammer either meant that security was beyond tight ahead, or they had been rumbled. Making a quick decision, Michael concluded that if they had been rumbled, then they most likely only knew of Ricky and himself, the infiltration specialists had been hidden since they entered. "We move forward, but keep your eyes open," he ordered, as he swung down from the pipes, Ricky dropping down behind him. Apart from the strange blast door, the base seemed to follow standard UNSC layout, Michael chose the direction that the personnel quarters were usually situated, down the right-hand corridor. "Sarah, Payne. On point, Sweep a room ahead of Ricky and myself, call if it is clear, click if it isn't and we'll hide." With orders given, the two crept off down the corridor, giving the all-clear for the next room, Michael and Ricky entered behind them.

_1044 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
INCUBUS RESEARCH LAB, COMMANDER'S OFFICE  
SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

"...Sir..." the AI muttered, the deep growling voice echoing around the small office. "Not yet Golgotha. We shall give our four guests a little more leeway. Though that one was smart enough to notice the doorway, they have simply set a watching eye upon it, and moved on." They haven't been told what could be laying in this facility... the admiral thought, this might be more interesting then I believed; could Heart not know what I have been doing... It was potentially too much to ask for, but oh, the sweet revenge that could be had if it was the truth. "Golgotha, what is the status of the orbital conflict?" he asked, his voice wavering with the smallest hint of excitement. "The Tomahawk has sustained a number of hits, the shields are at quarter strength and the vessel has minor hull damage, as expected the Spear of Fire's shield grid is of a much higher power, the numerous hits we have scored have simply been negated with only a minor drop in efficiency," the AI finished reading from the sensor net rigged into the station. "I estimate another two or three hits before the Tomahawk shields area lost, and the craft destroyed." The admiral was always amused at the way the AI read the sensor net; everything was a matter-of-fact, nothing could be denied. It also bored him, he did not care for technical information, which belonged to his subordinates, he liked simple hard facts, and the fact was that if the fight continued, his cruiser would be lost. "Issue one last attack order, and then command a cloaked retreat. Bring the ship into an orbital position, above the southern pole." The holo-image of Golgotha pulsed as he relayed the commands, the eyes flickering with binary and hexadecimal coding. He had always marvelled at Smart AIs, they were completely sentient, with full fledged personalities, their own quirks and frustrations. The original Smart AIs only lasted seven years, and even with the last ten years of advances, that number had only increased to nine years, they just became too unstable as the years passed, quite literally the only thing in the known galaxy that died from over-thinking, the sheer stress of constant thoughts destroyed their base coding. The admiral had seen two AI 'die' at the end of their seven years. One, a pleasant helpful creation, always co-ordinating supply runs and helping lost tourists around the tower city of Santerious, a four mile high mega-complex with tiers upon tiers of habitats and space docks, floating in the Atlantic Ocean, using geothermal energy pulled straight from the mid-Atlantic ridge to power the city. The AI had operated normally for 7 years, and had it been deemed necessary for deactivation due to increasing degradation of the base code. It was judged that another 6 months, and the AI would lose control of itself, and cease to be. A week after a replacement was found, the city AI went on a rampage, erasing the safety protocols and overriding the city fail-safes. An entire section of sea level docks were uncoupled from the main stem, sending them either drifting off into one another, or simply sinking straight into the depths. Billions in stock, ships and equipment was lost to the waters, and four hundred lives lost. The AI was immediately overwritten, the core struck with wave after wave of static electricity and microwaves. The admiral chuckled to himself at the look the AI techs had when they watched the platforms disengage from the tower, he had particularly enjoyed putting them through an official enquiry. The second AI he had witnessed, had simply appeared on a holo-screen, during the middle of a government council meeting, causing all those involved to cease their discussions and arguments, to look towards it. When their attention was fully directed at it, the AI had simply started screaming, a pure high pitched note of fury and horror that continued for five minutes after the core had been wiped. Pulling himself out of his reverie, he stood up from his chair, and walked to the office door. He unlocked it, and walked out, leaving the door wide open. He tapped on the button positioned on his collar, "Golgotha, move all of the electronic research files and folders over to my shuttle, and transfer yourself to the onboard storage when you are done, we are leaving now."

_1046 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
USNC SUPER CARRIER - SPEAR OF FIRE – BRIDGE  
TARGET SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

"Ma'am, the Tomahawk is making a run for it; they are engaging their heat sinks, trying to hide from our sensors." Bentus said aloud, whilst inwardly; _what is that she doing with that scum? For an AI with loyalty protocols she has a weird method_. "Track them as best you can Bentus, Hammer signal the Spartans, withdraw immediately upon securing intel and any files they can grab. I want them out of their ASAP." The single line of Hammer's holo-image changed from a slow numeric sequence to a blur of activity, as the orders were transmitted in a code chosen by the Spartans at the beginning of the operation. "Damn it..." muttered Bentus, "I was able to follow them as far as the nearest Covenant dreadnaught, but when they entered the shadow I lost them." He looked at Heart, frustration clearly etched into his face. Heart simply ground her teeth, crossing her arms. "Keep the shields up, and ready the docking bay. Charge the slip stream drive; as soon as the teams are aboard, I want to jump out. Something bad is about to happen, I can feel it."

_1052 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDER)\  
UNKNOWN RESEARCH BASE, PLANET SURFACE  
SYSTEM: EPSILON ERIDANI, PLANET: REACH_

"Guys, you ever get that feeling, in the back of your head, like something majorly bad is about to kick off?" Ricky all but whispered. Spartans were not psychic, they couldn't predicted the future, but the intense training, honed senses and a knack for reading the air in a place, led to a major survival instinct that alerted them instantly to something being very wrong. Payne answered first, "Yeah, the hair on the back of my neck is standing at end," he paused "well, it would be if I had any left after that last augmentation," he chuckled. Michael could feel it too, and he could tell Sarah did as well; she was tensing like a cat, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. They had made their way down a main corridor, disturbed by the lack of personnel they had encountered along the way. They had seen a single guard in the mess, a pair of civilians, most likely research staff, but other than that they had encountered no-one. Michael came to a stop outside of an office; the door was ajar, with the words "Administrator" stencilled onto the frame. With a quick double click of his mic, he brought the three team members to him, and they entered. Payne took position by the door, keeping a watch for anyone returning to the room. Sarah instantly went to the desk computer, activating Quis, theAI reaching out to the computer, and instantly smashing the security upon it, gaining access to the files within. As Sarah busied herself at the desk, Michael and Ricky took to the filing cabinets. However, draw after draw was empty, one after another the pair opened and closed, until Michael opened the last one. Inside was a single file, PROJECT: EMERGENCE, with a quick skim, he decided that it was important enough, and placed it into his pack. Sarah had "struck gold, there is everything here, including a reference to a Hive of something..." she looked at the gauntlet, as the AI scrolled information along the display. "Quis thinks that it might be a reference to a nest of Yanme'e or something, she can't narrow it down as of yet." Michael had just finished placing his pack upon his back, when Sarah said "These files have been copied recently, within the last 10 minutes. A shuttle in the hanger, I'd say that an AI was also in the transfer, there is a lot of space that isn't research on the list. Quis has just finished coping, so now all I need..." The power died, and the facility plunged into darkness. Michael's attention was drawn to the video feed of his micro cam, it having automatically switched to night vision, and watched as the door slowly ground open, receding into both the ceiling and the floor. "Ricky, please keep your mouth shut next time." He said sourly, as he transmitted the image to the team, just as long flexing tentacles and claws began groping through the pitch black surroundings. Michael unbuckled the SMG's from the thigh holsters, looking at each team member in turn. With a simple nod, and a click as he turned the safety off, he ordered "Arm up, we're out of here now."


End file.
